


Desperate Embrace

by Swump (Zelan)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's One Line But It's There, You Could Call it Dash/Kwan if You Want To
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 13:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12706080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelan/pseuds/Swump
Summary: When Amity Park is thrown into chaos, Dash and Danny are thrown together.





	Desperate Embrace

The last thing that Dash had expected to find himself doing today was cradling Danny Fenton in his lap. But here he was.

It had all started with the ghost attack. It’s not like it came as a complete surprise. There were ghost sightings every day in Amity Park. It was just a thing people expected now; smaller ones weren’t even covered on the local news station anymore. But this attack was on another level. It was brutal, more terrifyingly brutal than any other up until now.

It had started so suddenly, too. Ghosts had phased through every single wall, oozing into the school like so much floodwater. Screams echoed through the halls as kids ran to escape. Dash winces at the memory of Kwan’s panicked shout when a ghost had plucked him right off his feet and whisked him away.

There was nothing Dash could have done to help Kwan. He knew that. But guilt had torn a hole in him regardless. Maybe that was why he had stopped to help Fenton.

The guy must have gotten separated from his nerd friends in the chaos, because it was the first time Dash had ever seen him without Foley and the goth girl on either side. Fenton had been sprawled out on the floor, teeth gritted, his right leg clearly useless. His pained expression just so happened to fall on Dash. Without a word, the jock had knelt down and dragged the both of them under a nearby lunch table.

It had come as a shock when Fenton had wrapped his arms around Dash’s neck. Instinctively, he’d stiffened and tried to squirm away from the unexpected touch. It was only a natural response when he rarely had the luxury of gentle contact - football or elsewhere. But slowly, Dash relaxed. The space under the lunch table was cramped, so they couldn’t exactly spread out, and Danny was clearly in pain. The younger boy had buried his face in Dash’s shoulder and had the fabric of Dash’s shirt clutched in both hands.

His first thought was that he didn’t want Fenton’s tears and snot all over his jacket, but he didn’t have the heart to shove Danny away when he remembered the time freshman year that he had dislocated his shoulder during football practice and Kwan had let Dash sob disgustingly all over him until the ambulance arrived to take him away.

Kwan…

Dash let Danny Fenton cry into his jacket, for Kwan.

So after all that, here Dash was, returning Danny’s desperate embrace, both of them searching for some small comfort in the thick of what was most definitely the worst day of either of their lives.

Dash was acutely aware of each and every one of Danny’s shuddery breaths, the quiet whimpers as he tried to work through whatever pain his leg was causing him. As tightly as Danny was holding onto him, Dash could tell that his grip was pathetically weak compared to Dash’s strength. What Danny did with his spare time, Dash had no idea, but it certainly wasn’t lifting weights.

But anyway, Dash pulled him just a bit closer to make up for it.

Dash had closed his eyes and, somehow, nearly drifted off into an uneasy sleep before he was yanked back into reality by someone croaking his name.

“Dash.”

Danny’s voice was barely audible over the sound of the ghost takeover. His tear-streaked face made Dash’s heart twist with sympathy.

“What’s up, Fen-toast?” he asks in a dull voice, lacking any of the usual mockery.

Miraculously, Danny’s mouth curls into a bitter grin at the nickname. “Can you help me stand?”

Dash doesn’t think he’s heard right. “Are you crazy? You’d die out there in two seconds flat.”

The look Danny gives him is more intense than he was expecting. “I can put an end to this. Help me out. Please.”

So Dash does. He wriggles out of the little alcove, mindful of Danny’s leg, and works the both of them into a position where he’s supporting most of the weight on Danny’s right side. Danny hisses in pain when they move as one into a standing position, but stays on his feet.

“Now what?”

“I’m going ghost.”

Dash snaps his head sharply in Danny’s direction at that quiet, determined statement, just in time to see him transform.

And now he’s not keeping the weight off of Danny’s injured leg, because Danny _has_ no legs.

Dash can only watch in awe as Danny Phantom floats high above him, emitting a high-pitched wail that sends all the ghosts in the room tumbling head over wispy tail. The pieces fall into place one by one - this nerd that Dash has been tormenting all year has been protecting him, all of them, has been Dash’s hero, even.

And looking at the carnage around him, Dash doesn’t know if he’ll be able to pull through this time. Not with this many enemies to take down, coming in from every direction. But he’ll sure as hell try, Dash knows that much. He leans down to pick up a fallen textbook, thick and very, very swingable.

_And I’ll be right behind him._


End file.
